Everyday life and regular occurrences; things we take for granted, are depicted in A Doll's House. There is nothing unusual about family squabbles, long-lost friends, secrets between spouses, unequal love and a lack of real communication.

Henrik Ibsen has cleverly combined these issues in such a way that they become life-changing events, dramatic and significant. He has made use of realism and naturalism to bring a down-to-earth quality to A Doll's House - the title of which itself suggests that all is not as it seems.

In developing the plot Ibsen has worked suspense into situations. They do not seem contrived and are believable whereas actually the co-incidences,on analysis, could be a little too calculated. Mrs Linde appears after 10 years. Torvald gets a senior position at the bank where Krogstad works. Mrs Linde is given a job there- Krogstad's job. Krogstad is the person through whom Nora borrowed the money and so on.

This technique shows a well-adapted combination of realism - real-life situations but with a possible exaggerated result - and naturalism - predictable, mundane incidents much like everyday life can be. Nora's decision at the end reveals something that many women of the time would have wished for but been too afraid to even consider:

not so much a metamorphosis as it is an awakening.

The reason for combining all the elements into a small space of time is because life can be like that. Furthermore, if Ibsen was to extend his play, it would be in danger of becoming boring. The language in A Doll's House is easy to follow and not requiring of any interpretation which technique cements the believable features of this play.